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Anything Goes |
| Anything Goes | |
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| Sheet music from original Broadway production Anything Goes | |
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| Music | Cole Porter |
| Lyrics | Cole Porter |
| Book | Guy Bolton P.G. Wodehouse |
| Productions | 1934 Broadway 1962 Off Broadway 1987 Broadway revival 1989 West End 2002 West End revival |
| Awards | Tony Award for Best Revival Drama Desk Outstanding Revival |
Anything Goes is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, revised by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap antics aboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London. Billy Crocker is a stowaway in love with heiress Hope Harcourt, who is engaged to Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. Nightclub singer Reno Sweeney and Public Enemy #13 Moonface Martin aid Billy in his quest to win Hope. The musical introduced such songs as "Anything Goes", "You're the Top", and "I Get a Kick Out of You".
Since its 1934 debut on Broadway, the musical has been revived several times in the United States and Britain and has been filmed twice. Anything Goes and Porgy and Bess are the only 1930s musicals that are still regularly revived.1 The musical has long been a popular choice for school and community productions.2
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Anything Goes is a farce set below decks on an ocean liner bound for London from New York. The original idea came from producer Vinton Freedley, who was living on a boat, having left the US to avoid his creditors. 3 He selected the writing team, and the star, Ethel Merman. The first draft of the show was called Crazy Week, which became Hard to Get, and finally Anything Goes. Hard to Get was set on a mid-ocean liner that was in danger, but, just a few weeks before the show was due to open, a fire on board the passenger ship SS Morro Castle caused the deaths of 137 passengers and crew. According to one version, 4 Freedley judged that to proceed with a show on a similar subject would be in dubious taste and he insisted on changes to the script. But theatre historian Lee Davis maintains that Freedley wanted the script changing because it was "a hopeless mess". 5 Bolton and Wodehouse were no longer available, so Freedley turned to his director, Howard Lindsay, who recruited Russel Crouse as his collaborator, beginning a lifelong writing partnership.
According to theatre legend, the show's new title, along with the title number, was born from the haste with which the show was revamped: at a late night production meeting, an exasperated and over-worked member of the production team cried out "And just how in the hell are we going to end the first act?" "At this point," responded one of the producers, being more helpful than he realized, "anything goes!"citation needed
Billy Crocker, a young love-sick Wall Street broker, has fallen in love with a beautiful girl he met in a taxi. His boss, Yale graduate Elisha J. Whitney, is going to travel to London aboard the S.S. American. He plans to relax before the tremendous sale of his own company's stock (or, in the 1962 version, to make an important business deal in England). Evangelist turned nightclub singer Reno Sweeney will be travelling aboard the same ship. She tells Billy "I Get A Kick Out of You" even though he sees her as just a friend. Billy goes to the dock to bid "Bon Voyage" to his boss and Reno and glimses the mysterious girl from the taxi. She is heiress Hope Harcourt and is on her way to England to be married to Sir Evelyn Oakleigh (Lord Evelyn Oakleigh in the 1987 version), an attractive, but stuffy and hapless British nobleman. Billy stows away on the ship in hopes of winning the heart of his beloved Hope. Also on the boat are "Moonface" Martin, a second-rate gangster on the lam labeled "Public Enemy 13," and his friend Bonnie (originally named Erma); the two have disguised themselves as a minister and a missionary, respectively, after stranding the ship's real chaplain back at the port. They also, mistakenly, left behind their leader, "Snake Eyes" Johnson, Public Enemy 1.
Billy helps Moonface evade the detectives at the dock, and as Billy doesn't have a ticket or passport, Bonnie and Moonface let him have Snake Eyes Johnson's, without telling him to whom it belongs. Billy convinces Sir Evelyn that he is quite seasick and when he goes below deck, Billy and Hope meet again and realize both have spent sleepless nights recalling their chance meeting ("All Through the Night"). Though Hope prefers Billy to Evelyn, she insists she must marry Evelyn nonetheless; unknown to Billy, she believes her family's company is in financial trouble. A marriage to Evelyn would promote a merger and save the company. The ship's crew gets a cable from New York saying that Public Enemy number 1 is on board. Moonface admits his true identity to Billy and he and Bonnie conspire to disguise Billy as a crew member since he is now presumed to be Snake Eyes Johnson. Bonnie obtains a sailor suit for him.
A quartet of sailors proclaim that "There'll Always Be a Lady Fair" waiting on shore for each of them. On deck, Bonnie proclaims, "Where Are the Men?", attracting a group of sailors and dancing off with them. She returns with a sailor suit for Billy.
Hope discusses her impending marriage with Evelyn and discovers that he is not particularly pleased with the engagement either. Billy asks Reno to help separate Evelyn and Hope, and she agrees. Billy and Reno declare to each other, "You're the Top". Reno is successful enough with Evelyn to earn an invitation for a drink in his cabin. She and Moon plot that Moon should burst into the cabin and discover Reno half-naked in Evelyn's arms, providing sufficient reason for breaking off the engagement. However, when Moon breaks into the room, machine gun in tow, he instead sees Reno fully-dressed and Evelyn nearly undressed. Moon tries to invent some indecent explanation for the situation, but Evelyn insists that he would be quite pleased by any rumor depicting him as a passionate lover, especially if Hope heard it. Moon admits that the plot has failed.
The crew has caught on to Billy's sailor disguise, and Moon and Reno create a new disguise for him from a stolen pair of trousers, a drunk's jacket, and hair from Mrs. Harcourt's Pomeranian made into a beard. Reno tells Billy that Evelyn has kissed her, and she is sure she will be Lady Oakleigh soon since nowadays "Anything Goes". Mrs. Harcourt angrily pulls off Billy's beard and the crew and passengers realize he must be the wanted man. As Snake Eyes Johnson, Billy is an instant celebrity.
Billy, presumed to be "Public Enemy Number One", is honored by both crew and passengers. He tells the Captain that Moon (who is still disguised as a minister) is helping him reform from his wicked ways. Moon is asked to lead a revival in the ship's lounge. Reno puts her evangelistic training to good use and leads the anthem "Blow, Gabriel, Blow". The passengers confess their sins to the "Reverend", and Sir Evelyn admits to a one-night stand with a young Chinese woman. Hope is not impressed with Billy's charade, and he confesses to everyone that he is not really Snake Eyes Johnson. Moon attempts to compensate by revealing that he is not a minister; he is Public Enemy Number Thirteen. The captain is not impressed and sends them to the brig.
Moon tries to cheer Billy up by urging him to "Be Like the Bluebird". Billy doubts he will ever see Hope again; he and Moon cannot leave their cell until they return to America. Their card-playing Chinese cellmates, who have been imprisoned for winning all the cash in third class, will be put ashore in England. Moon and Billy win their clothes in a game of strip poker.
Billy, Moon, and Reno show up at the Oakleigh estate in Chinese garb. Billy and Moon tell Oakleigh's uncle that they are the parents of "Plum Blossom" and demand reparation for Evelyn's promiscuity. Uncle Oakleigh offers to buy them off and Moon gleefully accepts the cash, much to Billy and Reno's chagrin.
Billy and Reno find Hope and Evelyn, who are unhappy with the prospect of their matrimony. Hope declares that she wildly wants to marry Billy("The Gypsy in Me"). Billy spots Whitney and finally learns that Evelyn and Hope's planned marriage is really an awkward business merger. Billy savvily knows that Uncle Oakleigh is manipulating them all; Hope's company is really worth millions and Billy informs Whitney of that fact. Whitney offers to buy the firm from Hope at an exhorbitant price, and she accepts. The marriage is called off since a merger is now impossible. Billy and Hope get married, as do Reno and Evelyn. A cable from the U.S. government fixes Billy's passport problems and declares Moon "harmless." Moon indignantly pockets Oakleigh's check and refuses to return it.
§"Luke" and "John" in the 1987 revival and 2002 concert
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| Song | 1934 Original | 1962 Revival | 1987 Revival |
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| I Get a Kick Out of You | Reno expresses her love to Billy in the bar at the beginning of Scene 1, reprised later near the show’s end. | The song is sung later, when Reno realizes she is in love with Evelyn. | Same as 1934. |
| There’s No Cure Like Travel/Bon Voyage | The Sailors and guests board the ship, ready to depart, singing the “Bon Voyage” section of the song, but with no “No Cure Like Travel” portion. | Same as 1934. | The complete song is sung. (“No Cure Like Travel” was written for 1934, but later cut). |
| Easy to Love | Absent | Absent | Written for 1934, but cut. Here, Billy makes an advance on Hope. Although she turns him away, she secretly agrees with him. |
| The Crew Song | Absent | Absent | Originally written for “Paranoia”. Whitney prepares for a date with Mrs. Hardcourt and sings about his Yale days. |
| Sailor’s Shanty (There Will Always be a Lady Fair) | Sung by sailors during a scene change, and later reprised. | Absent | Same as 1934, with fewer verses and no reprise. |
| Heaven Hop | Absent | Originally written for “Paris,” Bonnie shares a dance with Reno’s Angels. | Absent |
| Where Are the Men? | The demanding women of the ship bother an officer, demanding men. | Absent | Absent |
| You’re the Top | Reno gives Billy a pep talk to raise his confidence (where “Friendship” would go in the revivals).
There is also an encore of the song, totaling the two to be about six minutes! |
Sung in place of “I Get a Kick Out of You” in the bar scene with fewer verses. | Similar to 1934, but sung before “Easy to Love,” also with fewer verses. |
| Friendship | Absent | Originally written for “DuBarry Was a Lady”; Reno, Billy, and Moonface sing about their strong bond | Similar to 1962, but only Reno and Moonface sing, and some alternate lyrics |
| DeLovely | Absent | Originally written for “Red Hot and Blue”; Billy and Hope have a romantic moment where “All Through the Night” was in 1934 and “Easy to Love” was in 1987. They are joined in by the sailors and women of the ship. | Sung later in the musical, near the Act I Finale. The sailors and women do not join in, and there is an extended dance sequence in the middle. |
| Anything Goes | Sung by Reno before the Act I Finale when she considers marrying Evelyn | Now ends Act I and sung about Billy as Snake Eyes, rather than Evelyn. Some alternate lyrics | Similar to 1962, with more alternate lyrics |
| Act I Finale | Whereas the revivals ended the act with “Anything Goes,” the 1934 original had a scene where Hope rejects Billy, who is posing as Snake Eyes. Reno and Moonface try to cheer him up with a reprise of “You’re the Top,” to no avail. Billy is the hero of the ship to everyone but the girl he
really wants. |
Replaced by “Anything Goes” | Replaced by “Anything Goes” |
| Public Enemy Number One | After a marching-style intro by the nude sailor quartet, the song turns into a mock-hymn to Billy | The opening verse is cut, leaving only the hymn, sung A’Cappella-style with no instrumentals,
unlike the other versions |
The introduction is back, sung by the Captain and Purser instead of the sailors, and also shortened a bit |
| Let’s Step Out | Absent | Bonnie arouses the passengers after the quiet “Public Enemy Number One” with a dance number | Absent |
| What a Joy to be Young | A heartbroken Hope sings about how she preferred herself back when she was ignorant, but blissful | Absent | Absent |
| Let’s Misbehave | Absent | Originally written for “Paris”; Reno entertains the crowd and is joined by Evelyn | Absent |
| Blow, Gabriel, Blow | Sung by Reno to cheer everyone up after Billy is arrested as an impostor | Same as 1934 | Same as 1934, but sung before Billy is arrested, in the manner (plot-wise) of “Let’s Misbehave” |
| Goodbye, Little Dream, Goodbye | Absent | Absent | Sung by Hope after Billy is arrested...she realizes she’s in love too late |
| Be Like the Bluebird | Sung by Moonface to cheer up Billy in the brig | Same as 1934 (missing a verse), but sung after “All Through the Night” | Same as 1934 (missing a verse) |
| All Through the Night | Sung by Billy and Hope on deck early in the show, where “DeLovely” and “Easy to Love” went in revivals, with a chorus. Reprised in the brig. | Same as the 1934 reprise, with no chorus and a cut verse. | Same as 1934 reprise, complete with chorus, but more cut verses. |
| Gypsy in Me | Sung by Hope, letting her wild side out after Reno tells her that Billy loves her back. | Absent | Now sung by Evelyn, turning into a comic number, and adding to the plot about his family’s disturbing secret. |
| Take Me Back to Manhattan | Absent | Originally written for “The New Yorkers,” sung by a homesick Reno and her Angels. | Absent |
| Buddie Beware | Sung by Reno about her problems with men, replaced in later runs with a reprise of “I Get a Kick Out of You.” | Absent\ | Sung by Erma to the sailors who are in love with her. Fewer verses. |
| Finale | Reprises of “You’re the Top” and “Anything Goes." | Same as 1934 | Reprises of “I Get a Kick Out of You” and “Anything Goes." |
The musical had a pre-Broadway tryout in Boston, before opening at the Alvin Theatre, New York, on November 21, 1934; it ran for 420 performances, becoming the fourth longest-running musical of the 1930s, despite the impact of the Great Depression on Broadway patrons' disposable income. Directed by Howard Lindsay with choreography by Robert Alton, it starred Ethel Merman as Reno Sweeney, William Gaxton as Billy Crocker and Victor Moore as Moonface Martin.
Charles B. Cochran, a British theatrical manager had bought the London performance rights during the show's Boston run, 4 and he produced it at the Palace Theatre; the show opened on June 14, 1935 and ran for 261 performances. The cast included Jeanne Aubert as Reno Sweeney (the name changed to Reno La Grange), Sydney Howard as Billy Crocker and Jack Whiting as Moonface Martin. P G Wodehouse was engaged to replace the specifically American references in the book and lyrics with references more appropriate to an English audience. 7
The production was revived in an Off-Broadway production in 1962, opening on May 15, 1962 at the Orpheum Theatre. It was directed by Lawrence Kasha and the cast included Hal Linden as Billy Crocker and Eileen Rodgers as Reno Sweeney. For this revival, the script was revised to incorporate several of the changes from the movie versions. Most changes revolved around the previously minor character Erma, whose name was changed to Bonnie. This revision was also the first stage version of Anything Goes to incorporate several songs from other Porter shows: "Take Me Back to Manhattan" from The New Yorkers, 1930, "It's De-Lovely" from Red Hot and Blue, 1934, "Friendship" from DuBarry Was a Lady, 1939, and "Let's Misbehave" from Paris, 1928.
For the 1987 Broadway revival, John Weidman and Timothy Crouse (Russel's son) updated the book and re-ordered the musical numbers, borrowing Cole Porter pieces from other Porter shows, a practice which the composer often engaged in. ("Easy To Love" was from the 1936 movie Born to Dance.) The music was rescored for a 16-piece swing band, in the style of early Benny Goodman, instead of the earlier 28-piece orchestrations. 8 This production opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, in Lincoln Center, on October 19, 1987, and ran for 784 performances. With direction by Jerry Zaks and choreography by Michael Smuin, it starred Patti Lupone as Reno Sweeney and Howard McGillin as Billy. It was nominated for 10 Tony Awards, and won the 1988 Tony Award for Best Revival and Best Choreography. Leslie Uggams and Linda Hart were replacement Renos.
This version was also produced in London in 1989, at the Prince Edward Theatre with Elaine Paige in the role of Reno Sweeney (she was replaced for the last month or so of the run by Louise Gold).
The National Theatre revived the musical, which opened at the Olivier Theatre on December 18, 2002 and then transferred (2003) to the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, in the West End. Directed by Trevor Nunn, it starred Sally Ann Triplett and John Barrowman.
In 1936, Paramount Pictures turned Anything Goes into a movie musical. It starred Ethel Merman (again as Reno), with Bing Crosby in the (newly renamed) role of Billy Crocker.
The book was drastically rewritten for a second film version, also by Paramount, released in 1956. This movie again starred Bing Crosby (whose character was once more renamed) and Donald O'Connor.
In 1954, Ethel Merman, at the age of fifty, reprised her role as Reno in a specially adapted television version of the musical, co-starring Frank Sinatra as the hero, now renamed Harry Dane, and Merman's good friend Bert Lahr (who had co-starred with her on Broadway in DuBarry Was a Lady) as Moonface Martin. This version was shown as an episode of the Colgate Comedy Hour, and has been preserved on kinescope. This version used five of the original songs plus several other Porter numbers, retained the shipboard setting, but had a somewhat different plot.9 It has been reported that Merman and Sinatra did not get along well; this was the only time they worked together.citation needed
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